| 1 | [[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cicero_denounces_catiline_painting_roman_cesare_maccari_1888.jpg]] |
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| 3 | ->"''There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish... it was so fragile.''" |
| 4 | -->-- '''Marcus Aurelius''', ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' |
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| 6 | '''[[TropeCodifier The]]''' [[TheRepublic Republic]]. |
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| 8 | The [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman Empire]] before the emperors. Rome spent around 500 years as an ancient city state style Republic, which has greatly influenced pop culture, politics, and modern society in general, even if pop culture references and knows the imperial period better. |
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| 10 | Rome was founded some time around 800-700 BC, and became a Republic in 509 BC according to most history. We know very little about these first couple centuries, most likely Rome was started by a collection of nearby people gathering together on some defensible hills near good farmland, the city seems to have formed from preexisting small settlements on its hills merging together. It was founded on the border of three cultural regions, so there may have been some mixing involved, something its founding myths reference. Oh yes, founding myths, Rome has a few. In its early years, its legendary founders were UsefulNotes/{{Romulus}} and Remus, RaisedByWolves, founded the city itself on the curiously precise date April 21st, 753 BC. This was the origin most popular and beloved by the Roman people during the Republican era. Aspects about the founding myths have a curious plausibility and the idea that the original Romans were an [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits outlaw band]] or fleeing refugees does seem believable. |
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| 12 | Another legend, dating much later after contact with UsefulNotes/AncientGreece, argued that the Romans were descendants of Aeneas and Trojan exiles from the [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar Sack of Troy]]. Much later, ''Literature/TheAeneid'' put CanonWelding by stating that they were founded in fact by refugees from [[RapePillageAndBurn the sack]] of Troy and that Aeneas is the true founder of Rome. This origin was obviously favorable to UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, the commissioner of the epic, who saw Aeneas as a PropagandaHero, and [[UnreliableNarrator coincidentally, Augustus' Julio-Claudian family claimed descent from Aeneas as well]] so Rome was intended to be an Empire all along, [[SelfServingMemory isn't that convenient]]. As such, historians tend to favor Romus and Romulus as a more authentic founding myth, albeit they note that it's not the only one. |
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| 14 | Some time in this period, Rome was taken over by kings, many of them UsefulNotes/{{Etruscans}} or under Etruscan influence. Archaeology shows Romans starting to build larger projects in the city during this time, so direction under a kingship is plausible. See [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanKingdom The Roman Kingdom]] for some stories and details, though many of these are disputed. The last of these was the tyrant UsefulNotes/TarquiniusSuperbus (Tarquin the Proud[[note]]Put out of your mind all thoughts of a large public transport vehicle that uses its powers to fight crime[[/note]]). This king was overthrown by conspirators from the aristocratic families, led by Lucius Brutus. After overthrowing the King, he and his fellow aristocrats swore a vow that Rome would never be ruled by a King. They formed what they called a ''Res Publica'' (literally, "Thing of the People"), from which we gain the term "Republic."[[note]]As well as "Commonwealth," a translation of ''Res Publica'' into 17th-century English.[[/note]] Romans from this point would be deeply opposed to rule by kings, which would require some political maneuvering towards the Republic’s final years. |
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| 16 | Rome would in its first decades work out its political system, though the history here is muddled and often questioned. Around a century after the Republic’s founding, it would start the long series of conquests Rome is known for, starting with nearby fellow Italian city states and leading to most of the Mediterranean and what is now Western Europe being under its control. Rome displayed an unusual ability to incorporate conquered people, helping to hold its territory together and to raise the large armies it was known for, part of the reason its civilization is still so influential today. While Rome's system of government was oligarchical by modern standards it had [[FairForItsDay for its time]] a reputation for justice and stability and its elaborate checks and balances were often admired by Greeks whose cities were often troubled by [[WeAreStrugglingTogether chaos]], the government would remain generally stable and functional until its last century. That last century is one of the best known periods of history, with several famous figures with their own useful notes page and many pop culture works addressing the period. |
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| 18 | !!Wars and Conquests |
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| 20 | Most of the territory taken by Rome was during the Republic, only modern England and Wales, parts of Romania, and slivers of Spain and terrain on the Mediterranean were conquered in the imperial period. Rome’s most famous wars and battles, such as the fights against UsefulNotes/HannibalBarca, took place at this time also. Warfare was deeply, deeply embedded in Roman government and everyday life, as those sections will describe. |
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| 22 | Rome was a conscript army/citizen militia for most of this time, rather than using full time soldiers. Citizens fought as a duty of (male) citizenship: each year the government figured out how many soldiers they thought they'd need, and called up that amount of people. Citizens bought their own equipment and served in roles based on what they could afford. Most common were small landowning farmers, these served as heavy close combat infantry. Younger and poorer farmers served as javelin throwing skirmishers. The richest would be cavalry. Poor city dwellers would crew naval ships. Infantry during much of this time was further divided. Poorer or younger soldiers (early 20’s) were hastati, who would attack first. The middle group were principes, if the first attack failed to win they would rotate with the hastati in the fighting, allowing some rest and keeping everyone fresh. In the back were the richest, the triari, usually also the oldest (early 30s) and most experienced. They would act as a last resort if things went really wrong, either protecting a retreat or joining the fighting to defeat an enemy. Towards the end of the Republic, this system would shift to something more homogeneous: all heavy infantry would be treated the same instead of having three distinct groups, Cavalry and skirmisher roles would be filled by non-Romans. Poorer citizens would be equipped at government expense more often. The early Republic likely had a different fighting style also: a spear phalanx is the most common description, but we don’t have a lot of evidence for anything in particular. |
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| 24 | Legions are well known for the gladius, shield, pilum, and good armor. Most of these are borrowed from Celtic groups: the sword was known as the Spanish Sword, popular Mail armor was created by Celtic groups, the helmet and scutum type shield are based on these regions as well. However, this equipment was much more common among all Roman soldiers, in Celtic areas it was restricted to the wealthier. The gladius during most of the conquests was a longer version than known from pop culture, used both in swings and in stabbing. It was replaced by the more well known shorter version towards the end of the republic. The pilum may have come from a number of previous spears or javelins in Italy. Instead of a small point as normal on javelins, the iron part was a long thin rod with a triangular tip, this allowed it to go through shields and injure the person anyway, or at least disable the shield or arm carrying it. Cavalry carried a lance, throwing spears, and a sword, and had similar armor to infantry. |
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| 26 | Rome had the ability to field astonishing numbers of soldiers for ancient armies, the most well known example is being able to support 5 to 6 theaters of wars after several devastating defeats by Hannibal in the second Punic war. Several institutions and a warlike culture helped support this mobilization. As Rome conquered Italy, conquered areas were tasked with supplying soldiers, sometimes ships, in place of other types of tribute that other empires might demand, further increasing the number of soldiers Rome could field. Roman soldiers were generally high quality, well equipped and well led: Rome was at war enough that veterans could provide decent training to newer people, and Roman political leaders/officers were required to have a lot of military experience. Roman citizens on average spent years in the military, allowing them to build skill and experience, which could be passed onto fellow soldiers. The Roman political system encouraged aggression. High officials who commanded the military served 1 year terms and didn't repeat them often, in the intensely competitive political culture they would want to make a name for themselves in that short time through warfare, encouraging a risk taking, aggressive way of managing a war. |
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| 28 | On the more disturbing side, Romans were known to see wars as all out things, much more than other people in the area did. This helped support their large number of soldiers, it also meant Romans would fight wars for longer, be willing to take losses, and be more destructive in victory than others might be, meaning more mass killing. |
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| 30 | Rome’s history of wars and conquest can be roughly broken down as follows: |
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| 32 | * Early Rome (Kingdom period - about 350 BC): Ancient cities had to fight lots of wars, Rome was no exception. In the early history of the Republic, Rome was one of many cities fighting it out in Italy. A lot of fighting was smaller scale, raids and small battles rather then major wars, often done by individual families or clans rather than the full city. There were some victories, a little territorial expansion against less powerful neighbors in the immediate area, plus a famous capture of Rome by Celts. But conquest really started in: |
| 33 | * Italian peninsula conquests (about 350BC -264 BC): Political and military changes in the first century and a half made Rome's military much more powerful. Starting around 350BC, it starts conquering city by city in Italy, starting with nearby neighbors. Some conquests were opportunistic attacks, some were fights against threats or rivals, often Rome would take advantage of an existing rivalry, helping one side, conquering the other, and bringing both into its fold. Eventually, Rome fought a coalition of several major Italian powers and won, finishing the conquest of the peninsula with some hill country conquests and some cities in the south. One of these cities, Tarentum, asked a guy called [[PyrrhicVictory Pyrrhus]] for help, his smaller mercenary army won some victories vs. Rome but took enough losses that Pyrrhus had to go elsewhere, resulting in the famous expression. Rome had lost more soldiers but had more to spare. |
| 34 | * Punic Wars and some wars in between (264 BC-201 BC): The first and second UsefulNotes/PunicWars against Carthage are likely the toughest wars the Republic fought (outside some civil wars, perhaps, if you include those). Carthage was similar to Rome, a populated republican city state that controlled a good sized empire, which could raise large numbers of soldiers. The first war started as a dispute about one Sicilian city that asked for help from both combatants. It spiraled into a 20 year war that left both Rome and Carthage out of money (Rome had to have rich citizens volunteer money for its last fleet, which fortunately for Rome won the battle it needed to win), Rome having to borrow some southern Greek colony sailing experience to quickly build up a navy which successfully competed with well respected naval power Carthage, and for massive losses, reducing the number of Roman citizens noticeably. (around ⅙ fewer male citizens than before the war were reported.) Rome got control of Sicily for the effort, Corsica and Sardinia shortly afterward when Carthage faced a mercenary revolt as a result of the war. The second Punic war featured several spectacular defeats of Roman armies by Hannibal, but Rome mobilized around 200,000 soldiers, fought in Spain, Sicily, Italy, and Greece (Macedonia chose to ally with Hannibal), and won after 18 years. Carthage was reduced to just the city, Rome took much of its European territory, with North Africa becoming Roman client states. Oh yes, and Rome conquered some Italian Gaulish territory between these wars, in what is now the Po river valley in northern Italy. Who as a result supported Hannibal. Rome kept this land after the 2nd Punic War. These wars gained Rome its first overseas provinces, which were managed differently than Italian conquered cities, setting up the provincial management system for future conquests. |
| 35 | * Conquest of Greece, parts of Spain, and other assorted wars (~200BC to ~145 BC) : Rome fights several wars in Greece. These go easier than the Punic wars: Macedon, the Seleucids, and Greek city states convincingly lose all of them after a few battles. Rome in the first several wars imposed treaties on Macedon and the Greek cities, but after several such wars every couple of decades, the territory was taken over instead. Meanwhile in 146BC, Rome destroys Carthage in a rather cynical war. Meanwhile a third time, wars are being fought in Spain and Gaul, including the Lusitanian and Celtiberian wars, slowly gaining territory, but the long drawn out conflicts and lack of plunder lead to unpopularity of these wars. The Spanish wars and conquest of Carthage led to some controversy within the city, these wars were more difficult than expected given Rome's apparent strength. |
| 36 | * Eastern Conquests, Jugurthine War, Cimbric War(~145 BC to ~100 BC): Rome continues to fight in Spain, and conquers some territory in what is now Turkey. The most famous wars are towards the end of the period: Rome fights a war in client kingdom Numidia (now coastal Algeria and Morocco) to replace a questionable king with another, and must fight against a surprisingly dangerous couple of of migrating tribes called the Cimbri and Teutones. These wars are as important for their politics as their military history and territory changes, the career of Gaius Marius was heavily involved in both, and the Jugurthine war demonstrated a lot of corruption. |
| 37 | * Civil Wars, Pompey, and Caesar (~100 BC to end of the Republic): The most famous wars from this period are the {{civil war}}s, as Roman politicians were able to raise armies loyal to themselves, and fight for power. First Marius and Sulla and their factions, then [[UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar Caesar]], [[UsefulNotes/PompeyTheGreat Pompey]], and opposing factions, then UsefulNotes/MarkAntony, [[UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} Octavian]], Caesar’s [[UsefulNotes/MarcusJuniusBrutus assassins]], and a few other factions fought it out. And a war with other italian cities called the Social War. Between the civil wars, more conquests took place: Gaul(modern France and low countries) was conquered by armies under Caesar, some middle east territory by Pompey and Caesar, including a coastal Mediterranean province where some [[{{UsefulNotes/Jesus}} random unremarkable religious figure]] would be born a few decades later. These conquests are where Rome stood when the emperors took over. |
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| 39 | Roman military and civilian government were tied closely together, which leads to: |
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| 41 | !!Roman politics |
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| 43 | When the king was overthrown, Rome was established as a Republic. The word itself comes from Rome, Res Publica meaning “thing of the people.” Romans were very proud of being a republic, seeing their officials as being better and more powerful than any king, and hating the idea of becoming a kingdom, an attitude that lasted quite a ways into the imperial period. |
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| 45 | The first one to two centuries were spent working out all the details through various political conflicts. Some roles of officials were blended together, a period of rule by 10 men was in place for a short time, and the roles of different assemblies were also worked out. The main dispute was plebeians vs. patricians: Patricians were supposedly descended from the first 100 people appointed to an early senate, though as this was based on a founding myth, we don’t know the actual origins of the group. Presumably it was an early aristocracy of some kind. A few other families were admitted to membership in the kingdom and early Republic. Plebeians were everyone else. Originally only patricians could hold most offices, but over time they were opened up to plebeians, as many non -patricians gained wealth and power, likely also to increase manpower by getting plebians more invested in the system and willing to fight. The distinction stopped mattering much at all after about a century, but left its mark for how the Republic was organized for the rest of its existence. Once the system settled, being patrician was a slight disadvantage compared to an equivalently wealthy and connected plebeian, as several offices were reserved for plebeians and none for patricians. Though being from rich, well established families, patricians were much more likely to have the resources needed to run for office. |
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| 47 | When fully settled Roman government had a three part structure, similar to other city states in the mediterranean. The senate is likely the most famous element. It comes from the word “senex” for old man, though given the ages of Roman officials, “old” means mostly the 40’s to 50’s, some people in their 30s or older than 60. Everyone who had served as certain officials, described below, was included, plus other prominent and powerful citizens to fill out numbers to 300, later 600 towards the end of the republic. In theory, the senate was just an advisory body, in practice, the advice was almost always followed, so the senate was often the most powerful part of government. It is the body that carried out foreign policy, decided what armies to raise, who would control provinces, and other longer term, large scale decisions |
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| 49 | The general (male, only males could be elected or participate officially in politics) citizen population made up the assemblies, which held elections for officials and passed or voted down laws. Instead of one person one vote, Roman assemblies divided people into smaller groups, each with one vote, called different names depending on the assembly. Individual voted by group, the winner for each group determined its vote, and those group votes were added together to determine the winning choice. By grouping people in different ways, Roman government had 4 assemblies, electing different officials and voting on different things. The centuriate assembly was divided based on wealth, and voted on war related matters, plus electing consuls and praetors. Wealthier and older people were included in smaller gropss, which got the same 1 vote each as poorer groups containing more people, resulting in these voters being weighted more . This was said to represent military service, wealthier people who could afford better equipment were counted more, and older people who had already fought counted more than younger people still doing military service. The Curiate assembly was divided based on family groups. It started off granting something called imperium, the power to command armies and organize courts, and passed some laws. After the shaking out of the early republic it had very little power, imperium grants became a rubber stamp and the centuriate assembly got most of its powers. The tribal assembly was closest to one person one vote, with the general population divided into tribes that matched population distribution closely, with groups based on where a person lived. The plebeian assembly included only plebeians, which made up the vast bulk of the population. It was divided similarly to the tribal assembly. Laws passed by it only applied to plebeians at first, later to the entire population. Assembly turnout was likely quite low, people would have to physically travel to the city to vote, not easy to do for a typical common person living out in the country. |
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| 51 | Officials in the republic had distributed power, while some generally were considered above others, they had independent responsibilities and could check each other in various ways: |
| 52 | * The quaestors were in charge of money management, which led to a number of other random responsibilities. Being the most junior officials--consistently having the lowest minimum age to hold--they were the grunts of the Roman state, handling whatever aspects of administration the more senior officials couldn't be bothered with. |
| 53 | * The four Aediles handled public works in the city of Rome. This was an ''extremely'' broad category, encompassing most of what we moderns would think of as "municipal government". Most significantly, this included putting on entertainment, they might spend their own money to do bigger things, which would make them more popular than what the city itself could afford. |
| 54 | * Tribunes of the plebs (ten) had various protective roles, stopping abuses of power by other officials, modern uses of the word tribune draw on this history. |
| 55 | * Praetors (the number of which increased over time, 8 by the end of the Repoublc) served mostly as judges in the Roman courts. However, they held ''imperium'' and thus the power to command armies. They therefore might be called to manage provinces after some were conquered. |
| 56 | * At the top were the Consuls--always two of them. Specifically holding the powers of the kings of old, they led the largest armies, and were generally considered the highest level officials in the Republic. They set the policy agenda of the Republic for their year--which was named after them. |
| 57 | * Our words Census and Censorship come from the censors, officials who kept track of the population and handled some government contracts and money management. They would keep track of numbers of population, how wealthy the population was, enroll appropriate people in the senate, and remove these qualifications from people occasionally for bad moral behavior. This was mainly useful for military mobilization, knowing who would serve in what role. |
| 58 | * In an emergency, a dictator could be chosen as head of government, they would be in charge of everyone except the plebeian tribunes, they would be in office for 6 months, or leave earlier if the problem was solved faster. This office is often misunderstood due to modern abuses of EmergencyAuthority, and due to Sulla and Caesar being chosen as dictators, it is assumed that it was a major threat for one person to take over. However, no dictators actually did this, even Caesar and Sulla marched on Rome with armies first, then forced their appointments as dictator. The office functioned roughly as a modern head of government might, pointing everyone in a single direction, but a dictator still had to work with the existing government and deal with existing power structures. Sometimes they might be appointed for a regular religious or government function when the person who usually filled it wasn’t available. |
| 59 | * Also elected were some minor officials, including several priests later in the Republic. |
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| 61 | To run for office, one had to be very wealthy and/or well connected, competition was fierce and a very low fraction of even the richest and most powerful people could expect to be elected. Running for office required 10 years of military service. This could be in regular units, but young aspiring politicians would want to get appointed as military tribunes. This role had a number of command and logistical responsibilities within an army, and would be filled with a mix of said aspiring politicians, plus experienced commanders and other friends or relatives chosen by whoever was leading the army. Officials were elected to 1 year terms by the appropriate assembly, apart from Censors who were elected every 5 years to 1.5 year terms, and minor officials who might be variable: Centuriate assembly picked consuls, praetors, and censors, the tribal assembly picked some Aediles and Quaestors, the plebeian assembly picked Tribunes of the plebs and some aediles whose position was reserved for plebeians. Later, as the republic conquered more territory, praetors and consuls might have terms extended as promagistrates, to either govern provinces or continue leading armies in the middle of multiyear actions like sieges or campaigns. These provincial commands were lucrative, provincial governors could expect lots of gifts/bribes/"contributions" from their area of control, even more in rich areas than poor ones, and if the province was militarily active a governor who won victories could expect war loot and fame. Laws were passed by Consuls, Praetors, or plebeian tribunes calling an assembly and having it vote up or down on the proposal. Tribunes and Consuls could block actions from other officials, called veto, if they were physically present to do so. |
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| 63 | Elections themselves would have involved lots of face to face campaigning, and likely a good amount of what now would be considered corrupt. Patronage networks were important for getting turnout, money would be spent to influence people. Politicians by custom would go through a specific sequence of offices with particular age limits called the courses honorum: required military service, election as quaestor at a minimum of about 30, election as Praetor at a minimum of about 39, then consul at a minimum of around 42. Service for these offices and Aedile led to membership in the senate. In between offices like Tribune of the plebs or Aedile (around 36 minimum), or priesthood among other random officials, could fill in time and allow politicians to build accomplishments and reputation, Plebeian tribunes might also get elected as a first office. There were fewer positions the higher one rose, and only so many tribune and quaestor positions to go around, so competition was strong, few people made it through all of these offices. Censorships and Dictatorships typically came after being consul, though being Consul was considered the most prestigious part of someone’s career. Offices were meant to be once a lifetime, apart from consul where people were expected to wait several years before running again. This informal system was broken a few times during some wars, and began breaking much more towards the end of the Republic. |
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| 65 | Philosophers of the time described the Roman Republic as a well run government, good at balancing interests between its different parts. In modern language, checks and balances were very much in place for most of its run. No one official was in charge of everything unless a dictator was in office, there were at least two of all officials, the number of Aediles, Praetors, and Plebeian tribunes was expanded over time, and consuls and plebeian tribunes had various ways of blocking other official's actions. The senate had no official powers, but members would spend more time in it than as elected officials, so there was a strong incentives to get along with your fellow politicians and respect the institution when in office. Officials and the senate were powerful, but assemblies had final say over who rose through the ranks and which laws were passed. By modern standards, Rome’s Republic was a corrupt, oligarchic government, but compared to nearby ancient societies it did its job quite well until its final century. |
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| 67 | Rome’s government was similar to Greek and Italian city states and Carthage from the same time period, these also had assemblies of citizens, officials overseeing specific areas, and councils of advisors or elders or a mix of both. Differences between these governments came from what powers each element had and who was allowed in. Though the creators of modern American government used Roman history and borrowed a number of terms, like senate and veto, none of the elements of modern U.S. government matches exactly any part of Rome’s government. |
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| 69 | Quite a lot of words used today come from the Roman Republic, in addition to large ones like Republic, Senate, Veto. Here are a few: |
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| 71 | * Inauguration: When an official first entered office, and augury (fortune telling/divination using birds) would be performed. |
| 72 | * Candidate: People running for office would wear the toga candida, a completely white toga meant to demonstrate purity. |
| 73 | * Empire, Emperor, Imperial, etc.: These terms obviously reference the empire period, but have origins in the Republic. All come from Imperare, to command. Imperium was a term meaning the power to command, offices with imperium (consuls, praetors, dictators) could command armies and run courts. Imperator was a term soldiers used for a successful general. Ironically given its modern meaning, Imperator was used to dodge the GoodRepublicEvilEmpire trope by Augustus, as a non threatening JustTheFirstCitizen type title, placing him as simply a commander. It later mutated into the word Emperor. Meanwhile, the political entity became known as the Imperium Romanum, roughly meaning commanded by Rome, this gave us the modern meaning of Imperium, changing over time to Empire. |
| 74 | * Plebiscite: Today means something similar to referendum, a law voted on by the general population. In Rome, these were laws passed by the plebeian assembly. |
| 75 | * Tribunal: Comes from courts overseen by tribunes. |
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| 78 | |
| 79 | !!Roman economy, everyday living, fun and games, the other stuff |
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| 81 | The common image of Rome, with its large entertainment structures, high population, [[BreadAndCircuses grain distribution]], aqueducts and other public buildings, is from imperial times, and was funded by money coming in for conquered provinces. For most of the republican period, Rome did not have so many provinces conquered, and Italian conquests paid no taxes, sending troops instead, so Rome wasn’t nearly as built up or populated. It would have been a well populated city, but not out of the range of other Italian, Phoenician, or Greek city states. Structures included temples, some simple entertainment areas, and gathering places like the forum. In most city states, these were built from taxes on city dwellers, loot from conquests, or rich people paying for them as a required contribution to the community, or to boost their reputation, Rome was no different. As time went on, and Rome conquered more territory, the city would grow and come to resemble the pop culture image we know, though many of its iconic buildings come from imperial times. |
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| 83 | GladiatorGames as it happens were not popular entertainment at the time, instead restricted to funerals. An obscure figure called [[UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar Gaius Julius Caesar]] (more on him later) would help make these more popular, by putting on mass games in honor of his father, who had been dead for a few decades. Later in imperial times they would take the form we are familiar with. However, other stereotypical entertainment like chariot races were common in Republic times, just not with as extravagant facilities. |
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| 85 | The famous Roman Roads were getting started at this time, and at first they all did lead to Rome. The purpose was to make army movement faster, very useful in the mountainous areas of Italy, and Rome took their construction elsewhere after conquering territory outside of Italy. Overseas trade was originally a mix of merchants from different regions: Phoenicians and Greeks were the most well known seafarers but others could be involved. Eventually, as Rome conquered the Mediterranean, they started controlling the trade, though sailors continued to be from many backgrounds. Rome did not have as extensive port facilities as would be built in the imperial period, but did import a good amount of grain and other goods as more territory was conquered. |
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| 87 | Roman religion was similar to other polytheistic religions in the area. You probably know the names of some major gods from planets: Mars the war god, Venus the beauty and sex god, Jupiter the ruling god. Astronomers in the 1500s and after were familiar with Greek and Roman myths, and continued this naming pattern, including the bodies Neptune (Sea god), Vesta (Home and hearth), and Ceres (farming) among others. Often forgotten or deemphasized in modern times, most polytheistic religions have an array of less powerful gods, household spirits, and other supernatural creatures to worship, Rome had these as well. Historians of Rome describe a lot of divination performed before making major decisions, auguries (fortune telling based on flights of birds) were used before most major political decisions. Responding to a bad omen, or finding clever ways to interpret a seeming bad omen as just fine, show up a lot. |
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| 89 | Often, Greek and Roman religion is described as the same thing just with different names: this is an example of AncientGrome and isn't really accurate. Polytheistic religions at the time would borrow gods and rituals from each other, and would recognize similarities between gods of similar things, sometimes seeing them as different facets/versions of the same being, Romans did this with some Greek gods. However, the myths, rituals, core of the religion were as different from each other as most nearby ancient religions were. |
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| 91 | Rome was, like most ancient societies, mostly small farmers, living the standard small farmer lifestyle. However, Rome’s militarization would have big effects on their lives. Men would serve an unusually large amount of time in the military, with a good chance of being drafted each year in their 20s and early 30s, likely 5-7 total years of military service on average. This lack of stability plus the possibility of dying meant they didn’t get married until the unusually late age of around 30, to an around 20 woman. Romans officials also made a big deal of having as many freeholding, somewhat wealthy farmers as possible. Infantry soldiers needed enough money to buy the armor and equipment needed, so needed to own their own land to do this: few serfs or tenant farmers (As far as we know) in the Republic, though many farmers would have worked on large aristocratic estates anyway to bring in extra food and money. A lot of wealth likely came from plunder, Rome’s many wars and conquests provided opportunities to loot. Rome would take land from conquered cities and Roman and some allied citizens would settle on it, mostly soldiers but some others, this increased the number of small farmers who could fight in the military. |
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| 93 | If you are a woman, you are getting married early like most societies and having lots of kids. However, your legal position is better than many other nearby societies: politics is unavailable to you, and you are under control of your father for a good amount of time, but legally are mostly treated the same as an equivalent male. |
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| 95 | Patron Client relationships were a major part of Roman society, much more so than in other societies around the Mediterranean. The more powerful patron would argue court cases on behalf of clients, help with loans of a client was in financial trouble, and provide some other protection or assistance, the client in return would show deference, and support the patron in politics, business, or other day to day ways. Patronage networks were especially important in politics, clients would provide their own votes and campaign for their patrons. This was a somewhat formalized relationship, many laws effected or were influenced by patron client relations. |
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| 97 | Rome had slavery, like most societies, for its existence, and lives were variable. Freed slaves became full citizens minus a few options for political participation, and children were full citizens with no restriction. Slaves with special skills, such as languages or writing, might have close contact with their owners, have a relatively good position, and a high chance of being freed. Many slaves, however, were put in physically demanding, backbreaking jobs like working farming estates or mining, these were unlikely to be freed and life would probably have been awful. The amount of slaves greatly increased with foreign conquests. |
| 98 | |
| 99 | The experience in conquered territory depends on where one was. In core Italian areas, you would be a citizen of your own city, which likely had broadly similar institutions to Rome with somewhat less time spent in the military. You would also have varying levels of citizenship in Rome, which might include being under the same laws, having the ability to do business using Roman law, get married to a Roman citizen and have citizen children, participate somewhat in Roman politics, etc. The exact conditions depended on the relationship Rome chose with your city. After the Social War, all Italians were Roman citizens with all that implied. Provinces outside Italy were controlled by governors, most likely people lived mostly under whatever local rule was familiar, but at higher levels governance would be adjusted by Rome to suit its needs. You would have to send some sort of taxes or tribute, which might be collected by tax farmers, who had a bad reputation. |
| 100 | |
| 101 | !!Fall of the Republic |
| 102 | |
| 103 | In its last century, the Roman Republic experienced increasing political turmoil, including several civil wars, culminating in one man rule by the Emperors. This period is the most well known of the Roman Republic, including well known figures like Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Augustus, and historical accounts are unusually detailed for ancient history, often able to describe events day by day. |
| 104 | |
| 105 | The traditional story starts with the Gracchi brothers. Tiberius Gracchus, elected as plebeian tribune in 133 BC, proposed some land reforms, which would break up some holdings of large landowners, plus take some conquered land owned by the Roman government, and distribute it to Roman citizens to create new farmers. This was a big land reform, but doable within normal procedures of the Republic. However, Tiberius Gracchus used his powers as tribune more aggressively than previous ones had, holding up other business in an attempt to get the law passed. He also broke the informal system of advancement by running for Tribune twice. his opponents were quite aggressive in their response, getting their supporters to interfere with Gracchus's actions, and stirring up their supporters as well. The political actions escalated, and after a couple of years his opponents had Gracchus killed. This kind of political killing had never happened before, and was obviously far outside the way government was supposed to work. |
| 106 | |
| 107 | His brother, Gaius Gracchus, was elected tribune in 123 and 122 BC. he proposed more extensive changes, including subsidized grain for city dwellers, colonies outside Italy for citizens to settle, and full citizenship for all Italians, among others. Gaius also stirred up popular support for these programs. He was also opposed as Tiberius was, leading to riots and violence, building to the Senate declaring that he should be killed, which he was. Though many of their laws passed, some in watered down form, the violence and their killings was not a good situation for the functioning of the Republic. |
| 108 | |
| 109 | The next major figure in the Republic falling apart was Gaius Marius. Marius used some shady methods to establish himself as a well known politician, and was elected consul for the first time in 107 BC. Consuls were expected to not run for consecutive terms, instead waiting a few years. Marius instead ran and won several times in a row, during which he commanded the completion of the Jugurthine war in Numidia, and after a period of training, led a Roman army to defeat some raiding Germanic tribes that had beaten several previous armies sent to stop them. Marius during this time was able to build up a base of support. |
| 110 | |
| 111 | During this time, Italian cities revolted, demanding full citizenship. This had been a proposal of Gaius Gracchus, and other politicians had taken up the proposal as well. The last of these, a tribune named Drusus, who proposed it alongside some other reforms, was killed. Soon after, revolts started. Romans got some cities back on their side by offering citizenship to anyone who stayed loyal, then a couple of offers of citizenship in the next two years to any cities that rejoined them. A few Italian areas still held out and had to be defeated militarily. All Italians got their citizenship, but at the cost of lots of death and destruction for everyone involved. |
| 112 | |
| 113 | During the final consulships of Marius, he developed a rivalry with another politician named Sulla which turned violent. At first, this consisted of riots and political actions between factions, with Sulla being one of many members of one opposed to Marius, in 88 Bc he was elected consul and sent to command an army. Things escalated when Marius sent some orders to Sulla to return home, Sulla instead had some of these officials killed and marched the army to Rome, expelling Marius and killing some supporters. The city was retaken, and Marius died shortly after, but violence between factions continued. |
| 114 | |
| 115 | Sulla went back to his command in what is now Turkey for a few years, but in 83 BC marched on Rome again. He was opposed by the senate, but the armies sent to defeat him were defeated. The second invasion was much more violent than the first. It is famous for the proscriptions, where thousands of people, including political opponents and other random rich people, were killed and their property taken by Sulla’s supporters. Sulla than forced through many changes to the Republican government structure, such as increasing the size of the senate, making laws out of what had been traditions previously, and in general making upper class elements like the senate more powerful and lower class associated parts of government like the tribunes weaker. After a couple of years, he allowed the regular functioning of the government, retiring and dying a couple years later. Most of his changes to government were abandoned shortly after. |
| 116 | |
| 117 | After Sulla’s death, some violence and conspiracies continued, though these were dealt with more effectively. During this time, some younger figures rose to prominence. Pompey was commander under Sulla, after Sulla’s retirement and death he became a very successful general, whose armies defeated some rebellions and conquered a number of eastern territories. Julius Caesar made a name for himself as an ambitious politician, eventually proving himself a successful general as well, leading armies to conquer most of modern day France and Belgium among some other conquests. As part of their rise, Pompey, Caesar, and a third man called Crassus would form a group called the Triumvirate, dividing up offices amongst themselves, they formed an alliance to support each other for a few years. However, Crassus was killed in battle in 53 BC, with one person gone, Pompey and Caesar shifted towards rivalry. |
| 118 | |
| 119 | Caesar had committed a number of crimes, engaging in some major corruption, to win some elections. Romans could not be prosecuted while they held office: this had not caused problems before, but Caesar now either needed to stay in office, or face some serious prosecutions. He had so far done this with appointments to provinces, the last in Gaul for about 10 years had allowed his conquests of the region. He now wanted to stand for Consul, but the existing Roman government required him to return to the city as a civilian and not an official, which would allow his prosecution. Instead, following the example of Sulla, Caesar had his now loyal army march on Rome, famously crossing the Rubicon river which armies were not allowed to do. In the resulting conflict, the Roman government turned to Pompey, but after some battles including a decisive one at Pharsalus, he was defeated, fled to Egypt, and killed. With no one powerful enough to resist Caesar, he took over in Rome. |
| 120 | |
| 121 | Caesar was relatively popular as ruler, making a number of reforms, though nothing particularly extreme and also rolling back a few things. He was also clearly a one man ruler, and made a number of moves straying too close to kingship: in a famous public act, he had a crown placed on his head and removed it when crowds booed, possibly testing the crowd’s reaction. In 44 BC, he had hjmself declared dictator for life, instead of renewing the iffice every 6 months. This was too threatening to many members of the senate, who famously assassinated Caesar march that year. The assassins, however, DidntThinkThisThrough, they had little solid plan for what to do after killing Caesar, and another decade and a half of civil war followed. A long time subordinate to Caesar, Marcus Antonius/[[UsefulNotes/MarkAntony Mark Antony]], managed to whip up crowds against the killers, who had to flee Rome. They raised armies, but were defeated after several battles. Mark Antony, Caesar’s heir that we know as Octavian, and a longtime Caesar supporter named Lepidus, took control of Rome and divided up provincial commands among themselves, also doing more proscriptions to kill political opponents. |
| 122 | |
| 123 | Not surprisingly, rivalries developed among this triumvirate as well. Lepidus was the first to lose out, he tried fighting Octavian but was deserted by several legions and lost some battles, he gave up and stayed out of politics after that point. Mark Antony and Octavian fought several political and military battles, culminating in Octavian winning and Mark Antony killing himself. After these victories, Octavian took control in Rome. |
| 124 | |
| 125 | Octavian established himself as ruler, but in a more subtle way than Caesar had. Instead of declaring himself dictator for life or any other openly powerful position, he give himself some nonthreatening titles, including imperator, which became the word Emperor, and Augustus, which is the name we use for him from this point. These were given by the existing government, in public everyone acted as if the initiative came from said government and not from Octavian. He also had himself given powers of several offices, including consul, tribune, and pontifex maximus, plus the power to command military forces anywhere. He was given direct control of some of Rome's provinces, with other managed by the senate, Octavian's tended to have the most soldiers. These powers were for life, and passed to his heirs. Put together, they made Augustus the most powerful person in Roman territory. |
| 126 | |
| 127 | Though Augustus sold himself as a restorer of the republic, in practice he established a monarchy. His being declared Princeps in 27 BC is taken to be end of the Republic, and the start of the Empire. |
| 128 | |
| 129 | Romans at the time didn’t treat it that way, even several centuries later, emperors sold themselves as servants of the Republic. The different parts of government continued functioning at first, but faded over time. Assemblies lost all power and disappeared first, switching to a seldom used mobilization role before disappearing. Consuls, Praetors, Tribunes and other officials became less powerful over time and chosen by the emperor, though the offices were still used by ambitious men as stepping stones in a career. The senate remained powerful for a few centuries, it didn’t run things, but still acted as an advisory body, and its membership contained the most powerful people in the empire, who could serve as provincial governors or generals. It even took part in some palace coups to replace emperors. However, after a couple of centuries, it too declined in power, though continued existing as a body until the western empire fell. |
| 130 | |
| 131 | Why the Republic fell into civil wars and one man rule is obviously of interest to historians, and they have many theories. The source of political conflict in the Gracchi’s time was thought to come, ironically, from Rome’s successes: Conquest had made some Romans far richer, who had then bought out struggling small farmers and replaced these farms with big, slave worked estates, these small farmers then got squeezed into the city struggling to make a livelihood. This is the explanation Tiberius Gracchus offered, and land reform was meant to give these people access to farms again. Modern archaeology suggests that small farmers were doing well and suggests a different explanation. Instead of dying gloriously in battle against similar sized Italian city states or coalitions, or against big empires like Carthage, Rome’s overwhelming strength meant more soldiers survived and had to find something to do after military service. But with limited land, many ended up as landless poor. Meanwhile, Rome wasn't fighting defensive wars, and its wars of conquest included many long, drawn out, plunder poor ones. This meant people were less diligent about Census registration and military service, and Censors less diligent at performing it as manpower wasn't as strained, creating an apparent shortage of farmers. Meanwhile, large amounts of tax was flowing in from conquered territories, which many people wanted to use to provide benefits to citizens. Italian allies, meanwhile, had fought alongside Rome for a couple centuries, but weren’t receiving taxes money from Rome’s conquests (they had gotten shares of war loot in the past, but sharing of provincial taxes was not part of these agreements), and were squatting on land that would be used for the Gracchi land reform proposals, leading to demands for citizenship to share in these benefits. |
| 132 | |
| 133 | However, Rome had experienced political conflicts before, made reforms, and worked through them, so other explanation are needed for why this one led to the government falling apart. Some suggest that Rome simply got too big, city state and other small Republics are common in history, but Republics controlling large amounts of territory are rare: Rome, Carthage, some medieval Italian city states, and The United States are the only major examples before the 1800s and 1900s. In this argument, ''something'' would have strained Rome and either split it apart or forced a different type of government. |
| 134 | |
| 135 | Some suggest that the conquests allowed too much of a power difference between politicians: Leaders that could be contained by others in a single city now had a chance to build wealth, loyalty of armies, attention and other sources of power through provincial commands and/or conquests, which in several cases could other institutions couldn't match. Another proposal is that social norms broke down, politicians started breaking unwritten rules, such as multiple runs for office in a shorter time period than traditionally done. This breakdown led to taking personal conflicts outside the usual political realm, and the Republic didn’t have institutions to contain the resulting political conflicts. Related is the argument that trust in traditional government was less, leading the population to look elsewhere for what it wanted. Rome experienced several tougher than expected conflicts in the mid 100's BC, such as the conquest of Carthage, some drawn out difficult Spanish wars, and the Jugurthine war that exposed a lot of corruption, it also responded questionably to economic changes. In this model, the senate and other traditional authority has that authority challenged, reacts poorly, and the conflict builds over time to civil wars. Likely, as with many events in history, multiple causes fed each other and combined to the results we see. Politicians during this period could tell the Republic was experiencing problems, but didn’t come up with the institutional changes to fix them until Augustus took over. |
| 136 | |
| 137 | !!Links |
| 138 | |
| 139 | The Roman Republic left a lot of imprints in Western culture in fields ranging from military tactics to engineering to philosophy (when they weren't plagiarizing the Greeks) to rhetoric ([[Creator/{{Cicero}} Marcus Tullius Cicero]] especially) to politics and the nice big one, law. The legal systems of most of Europe are wholesale borrowings of Roman Law with some adjustments, and even English-speaking nations will find a lot of old Roman Law in their own (the first rule of codified Roman Law is otherwise known as the ''subpoena''). |
| 140 | |
| 141 | Episodes from the history of the Roman Republic that show up in [[HistoricalFiction fiction]], folklore, art, and literary references with some frequency are: |
| 142 | * '''The Early Republic''': The Rebellion against the Tarquins, Lucius Brutus and others founding the Republic, Lucius Brutus killing his royalist sons, the Horatii Brothers defending the Bridge (the latter two are subjects of iconic paintings by Creator/JacquesLouisDavid), Caius Marcius ''Theatre/{{Coriolanus}}'' turns renegade and betrays the Republic in opposition to the rise in power of the Plebeians, the dictatorship of Cincinnatus, the Gallic sack of Rome. The sources for this era are largely from the works of historians writing several centuries later in the Imperial Era, namely Titus Livy and Plutarch. As such the historicity of some or all of these events is widely contested and subject to much debate[[note]]Readers of Creator/GeorgeMacdonaldFraser's ''Literature/{{Flashman}}'' will remember how UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfWellington told Flashy at the end of the first book that he found the three horatii brothers single-handedly defending the bridge impossible to believe, noting that it's impossible to believe that militarily it would suffice to make that defense possible. Lord Macaulay, who historically wrote a famous poem in his ''Lays of Ancient Rome'' on the subject of Horatius's defense, disagrees with him in that same scene[[/note]]. In particular, the Gallic sack of Rome ca. 390 BC destroyed most historical records, rendering the earlier history at least semi-mythical. |
| 143 | * '''The Pyrrhic War''' (280–275 BC): Remembered best for the [[TropeNamer proverbial]] [[PyrrhicVictory Pyrrhic Victories]] achieved by Pyrrhos, the ambitious king of Epirus (north-western Greece), who battled the expansion of Roman hegemony over the Greek colonies of Southern Italy, and eventually had to give up after winning all battles but the last. |
| 144 | * The '''UsefulNotes/PunicWars''' against Carthage (264-146 BC). The biggest wars of the Ancient Mediterranean, featuring numbers, battles on sea and land, of the kind you wouldn't see until centuries later. Famous for the proverbial campaigns of Hannibal Barca -- especially crossing the Alps with WarElephants[[note]]Of course, by the time he reached Italy, almost all the elephants had perished, so their effect in the war was very minor. But it's what everybody remembers.[[/note]]. Hannibal and his (eventually futile) campaign into Italy are among the best-remembered episodes of ancient Roman history, partly because of the sheer magnitude of Hannibal's military achievements, and partly because this was the last time for several hundred years to come in which, for a moment, the very existence of the Roman state seemed to be at stake. The famous scientist Archimedes of Syracuse was working for Hannibal and when the Romans captured the city, Archimedes was killed by a Roman legionnaire, despite the orders to spare him by the commanding centurion. The third Punic War is the earliest period in Republican Roman history for which we have an eyewitness account, chiefly the works of Greek Historian Polybius, whose ''Histories'' is a crucial work on the rise of Republican Rome as ''the'' superpower of the Mediterranean. |
| 145 | * The '''UsefulNotes/CeltiberianWars''' (181-133 BC) and the '''UsefulNotes/LusitanianWars''' (155-139 BC) were part of Rome's attempts to transform previously Carthaginian territories in Spain into productive Roman provinces. However, what the Barca family had accomplished through intelligence, vassalage and mercenary alliances, Rome tried to do through forceful pacification and delegating on incompetent and/or greedy governors, which inevitably resulted in a powder keg of bloody rebellions that lasted fifty years at its peak. People in Rome ended up seriously fed of the situation after the continuous victories of the Lusitanian warlord Viriathus, the ungodly resistance of the Celtiberian tribes, and the obstinacy of tribes who used to spring back to war right after being pacified, so dire measures had to be taken by the Senate (including paid betrayals and brutal sieges) in order to drown the conflicts for good. Still, the totality of Spain would not be taken until the times of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire, two whole centuries after the beginning of the affair. |
| 146 | * The most notable era of the Republic is the First Century (133-31 BCE), simply because we have a richness in wealth and volume of primary sources from this era, exceeding that of any other century before and even several centuries afterwards. Certain events and places can be traced day-to-day. It also includes just about all the famous Romans: |
| 147 | ** '''The Gracchi''' (133-121 BCE): Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, descendants of Scipio Africanus, act as Tribunes hoping to aid the Roman poor but trigger a crisis in the institutions, leading to the polarizations between the "Populares" and the "Optimates" (both factions incidentally were named by the Patrician class, one for their enemies, and the other for themselves). It's seen as the {{Prequel}} to the end of the Republic with the brutal fates of the brothers, setting a precedent for political violence and violation of norms. |
| 148 | ** '''The Socii Wars''' and '''Sulla's Civil Wars''' (100-78 BCE): Gaius Marius, "The Third Founder of Rome" (and Julius Caesar's uncle), wins an unprecedented six consuls leading several victories over Italian and Alpine tribes over several decades and passing reforms allowing poor men to enter the army. Towards the end he forms a rivalry with Lucius Cornelius Sulla. The rivalry becomes political when Marius aligns with the populare and Sulla with the optimates, resulting in Sulla unprecedently marching his army into Rome, forcing Marius and his sons on the run, then a counter-coup by Marius which lasts until he dies, and then Sulla marches a second time (accompanied by Crassus and teenage Pompey) becomes appointed Dictator for Life and issues a series of proscription and [[ThePurge mass purges]] with 10,000 dead in the capital. Sulla eventually quits being Dictator and dies a year or so later. This era was the childhood of Cicero, Cato the Younger and Julius Caesar, who very nearly became Sulla's victim. |
| 149 | ** '''The Spartacus Rebellion'''. In 73 BC, a rebellion broke out in a [[GladiatorGames gladiatorial school]] in Capua, resulting in about 70 gladiators escaping. The gladiators, led on by a certain Spartacus, defeated an army detachment sent to bring them in, and, by systematically freeing other slaves, ignited a general slave rebellion, also known as the Third Servile War. At the height of the rebellion, a multitude of 120,000 former slaves -- men, women and children -- marched through Italy, supplying itself by plunder. After a series of spectacular victories for the rebels, fortunes changed and in 71 BC, the slaves were defeated in a LastStand at Rhegium in Calabria by legions under the command of Marcus Licinius Crassus. Some 6,000 survivors were crucified along the Appian Road, while Spartacus' body was never identified. |
| 150 | ** '''The Catilinarian Conspiracy''' (63 BCE): One of the greatest and most influential political spectacles of its time and afterwards. Cicero unearths a conspiracy to destroy the Republic, with the enemy being Catilina. The latter tries to plot an attack on Rome and several of its senators and Cicero is granted EmergencyAuthority to summarily execute without trial several suspects, while Catiline dies in battle. This incident increases the polarization and paranoia in the political and senate class of Rome. |
| 151 | ** '''The First and Second Triumvirates''' (59 BCE - 31 BCE): The real end of the Republic. The Gallic Wars, Gaius Julius Caesar's consulship, and pretty much the bulk of his career. It ends with him crossing the Rubicon, defeating formerly ally (and son-in-law) Pompey in CivilWar at Pharsalia, his expedition to Egypt where he romances UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII, his assassination in 44 BCE, the decade long civil wars that followed, the struggle between Octavian and Mark Anthony, ending with the former's victory at Actium in 31 BCE, and the rise of Octavian as Augustus, the first Roman [[TheEmperor emperor]]. |
| 152 | |
| 153 | See also UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire, its successor state. For the Roman Army specifically, see UsefulNotes/TheGloryThatWasRome. See also the following pages of eminent figures of the Roman Republic: |
| 154 | [[index]] |
| 155 | * UsefulNotes/MarkAntony |
| 156 | * Creator/{{Catullus}} |
| 157 | * Creator/{{Cicero}} |
| 158 | * UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar |
| 159 | * UsefulNotes/MarcusJuniusBrutus |
| 160 | * UsefulNotes/MarcusLiciniusCrassus |
| 161 | * UsefulNotes/PompeyTheGreat |
| 162 | [[/index]] |
| 163 | |
| 164 | ---- |
| 165 | !!TropeNamer for: |
| 166 | |
| 167 | * TheRepublic (from ''res publica'', "[government is a] public affair") |
| 168 | ---- |
| 169 | |
| 170 | !! Tropes as portrayed in fiction: |
| 171 | * AlternativeCalendar: The Julian Calendar we use today with modification by Pope Gregorius is in fact the alternative to the original calendar of the Republic, which dated itself AUC (Ab Urbe Condita, from the Founding of the City). The calendar was based on lunar cycles and was notoriously impractical, and Caesar after consulting with Egyptian astronomers, helped to devise the more practical one we use today. |
| 172 | * {{Bookends}}: Writers of historical fiction and non-fiction never fail to point out that the Republic was founded by a man named Lucius Brutus who deposed a tyrant and even executed his own children for betraying the newly formed Republic and it ended with his supposed descendant, Marcus Junius Brutus claiming to have ruefully killed a man who was a father-figure to him, out of fears that he would betray the Republic and become a King. |
| 173 | * {{Cincinnatus}}: The Trope Namer is the famous Dictator Lucius Quinctius or Quintius Cincinnatus. The only source for him is in Livy and historians more or less see him as a conservative PropagandaHero (a bit like Chapaev) about civic virtue since according to the story his main goal was opposing rights of plebians for equality before the law, and his storied dictatorship was to put down a revolt by the plebes. |
| 174 | * FightingForAHomeland: The legends surrounding the foundation of Rome, either Romans or other outlaw bands. |
| 175 | * ForeignCultureFetish: The Romans claimed to despise barbarians (anyone not Roman: other Italians, Gauls, Germans, Greeks, Carthaginians, Persians) but in practice were gluttons for the culture of conquered peoples, albeit to an extent: |
| 176 | ** They had some liking and appreciation for Carthaginian culture, the reverse-engineered a Carthaginian trireme to make their own navy. And in the time of the third and final Punic war, one of the explicit orders given was to preserve a book on Agriculture from Mago, an encyclopedia of the ancient world that the Romans wanted a copy of for their own work. |
| 177 | ** Greece was the big discovery for them. Hellenistic culture became all the rage, and Roman aristocrats started reading up and patronizing Greek oratory and culture. Scipio Africanus and his circle were major players in bringing Greek culture to Rome. This became significant enough that Cato the Elder repeatedly condemned the Greek fad and argued for pure Latin but even he sent his son to study Greek and apparently modeled his own attempt to write a history on Latin on Greek works, all to surpass it of course. Cicero and later, Caesar followed and plays by Menander and Plautus were highly popular in the Republican era. |
| 178 | ** On the other hand some Greeks started to like Rome. Polybius in his ''Histories'' wrote about how Rome quickly became the major power of the Mediterranean, surpassing the Hellenophone. He was quite fascinated with Rome's Republican government which he saw as the true reason for their success and the main reason why Greek city-states failed. A lot of the best historians and writers in Rome, during and after the Republic, were Greek (Polybius, Plutarch, Appian). |
| 179 | * GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: Many Roman-era fiction, especially those set in the Empire, regard the Republic as GloryDays and works like ''Film/{{Gladiator}}, Series/{{IClaudius}}'' cultivate sympathy for its characters by having them talk about "restoring the Republic". |
| 180 | ** The wholesale corruption of the later Republic, the brutal crackdown of slave uprisings, the series of consquests (which began during the Republic) and the opposition of the Optimates to any reforms goes unmentioned in this NostalgiaFilter |
| 181 | ** This has as much to do with the modern day conception of the Republic as a fair, just, democratic, and peaceful system of government. The Roman Republic was anything but, being an oligarchical, slave-owning, elite-controlled, and extremely violent system of government by its necessary downfall in the 1st century BC. |
| 182 | ** The Romans themselves internalized this to the extent that it became part of their propaganda. They had contempt for all kings, feeling superior over their neighbors and refusing to consider any state with a crown a legitimate ruler, and their soldiers, generals, senators felt that any of them was greater than any king, and it was their justification to expand, grab and take over territory. The word "rex" or "regnum" was such an insult that not even the most autocratic and hereditary of the Emperors used the word. And it was the reason behind such SerialNumbersFiledOff titles as Imperator and Princeps (from which we derive Emperor and Prince). |
| 183 | * GreatBigBookOfEverything: Polybius' ''Histories'' and Livy's ''Ab Urbe Condita'' are the sources for most of the history of the Republic dating to the era before the First Century. |
| 184 | * HistoricalDomainCharacter: Caesar, Cato, Cicero, Pompey, Mark Antony, Octavian, Sulla, Marius, Catilina, Scipio Africanus and the enemies of Rome, Hannibal Barca and Spartacus, appear in literature and works of art centuries after they walked the earth. |
| 185 | * HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Happened to quite a few eminent Republicans: |
| 186 | ** Cincinnatus is a major one, and most historians consider Livy's account as a little too good to be true. He was the TropeCodifier for constitutional responsibility and for peaceful transition of power, cited as a hero by Washington. Yet Livy's own account notes that he was a remarkably aristocratic man, opposed to any rights by plebeians and earned his reputation for putting down one uprising. |
| 187 | ** From the late Republican era, Cato the Younger became the major one. He was a model for incorruptibility to the extent that UsefulNotes/MaximilienRobespierre considered him his role model, even if his politics was way on Cato's left. The Roman poet Lucan in his poem ''Pharsalia'' famously made Cato the hero of an epic poem. Modern historians feel that Cato's intransigence shares much of the blame for the decay of Republican institutions. They also question his courage, noting that he would often go after Pompey's henchmen for profiting of Sulla's proscriptions but never go after Pompey or Crassus themselves, that he often seemed more interested in being a SpannerInTheWorks to Caesar out of some personal grudge rather than any true principles, citing Caesar's unconstitutional alliance with Pompey, where he and the senate nominated him to a Consul with EmergencyAuthority when that was an elected post. The fact that he was an influence on the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Confederate Lost Cause myth]] also calls his influence into question. |
| 188 | ** Marcus Junius Brutus is often invoked as "the last of the Republicans" and one of the last great Romans. A man of principled Republican virtue burdened by ConflictingLoyalty and a tragic hero who failed to save the Republic. The real Brutus was according to Creator/{{Cicero}} a corrupt LoanShark who extorted the poor with exorbitant interest rates, which considering Cicero's own attitudes to the poor, is saying a lot. Likewise, the "Liberators" during the Civil War [[http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/acans/caesar/CivilWars_Libertas.htm cast coins with Brutus' likeness on it]], glorifying their assassination with the words Ides of March coated with daggers and a Pileus (a hat worn by freed slaves symbolizing liberty) which regardless of Brutus' motives, does not support someone who was as modest, remorseful and reluctant the way Creator/WilliamShakespeare wrote him. Likewise, putting the likeness of a living Roman on a coin is a mark of autocracy, an illegal action which Pompey and Julius Caesar did, which suggests that Brutus was more or less angling to be a strongman of some kind or another, and it's only his defeat and death that made him "Republican". |
| 189 | ** Spartacus has received this almost unanimously since UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment. Creator/KarlMarx called him the greatest hero of the Ancient World, and he's celebrated for being a remarkably prodigious general leading a SlaveLiberation, a cause most people today wholeheartedly support. Of course, the only sources we have are Romans, who naturally won't be too keen on taking his side, but there's no evidence that Spartacus had goals for general abolition, or that he was seeking a revolution, which in any case doesn't mean his actions aren't SlaveLiberation or can't be seen as revolutionary (the many crucifixions overseen by Crassus certainly proves how the Romans saw it). It's also pointed out that Spartacus' servile army was largely composed of rural slaves and when they sacked towns, they tended to kill urban slaves and attracted little support from them, which while taking nothing away from his exceptional story, does complicate the picture a little bit, and accounts for his overall failure. |
| 190 | * HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Catilina got this thanks to Cicero. He was a corrupt patrician who participated in Sulla's purges, . However there is serious debate if Catilina really was planning to overthrow the state in the manner Cicero framed it, or if the threat was serious enough to justify EmergencyAuthority and summary execution without trial. Sallust, who was a populare, criticized Catilina but he noted that he did have some good virtues and genuine grievances, and some see Cicero, Cato and other optimates making a scapegoat of Catilina to [[MakeAnExampleOfThem intimidate reformists]] and tarnish the populares by association. |
| 191 | * HitSoHardTheCalendarFeltIt: Most Romans dated years by the tenure of the Consuls who were in office. People would say "I was born in the Consulship of X and Y". This was part of the reason why becoming Consul was such a big deal, because it guaranteed you immortality, because your term in office didn't just go on the record or honour roll, it became a cultural and historical milestone. |
| 192 | ** This also crept into some jokes. One wag, whose name has been lost to history, referred to two years of Creator/JuliusCaesar's consulship--59 BC (the first) and 48 BC (the second) as "the year Julius and Caesar were consuls" because Caesar's co-consul (Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Publius Servilius Isauricus, respectively if anyone's curious) were such complete non-entities. To be fair, Bibulus was the only one who made an active effort to oppose Caesar: Isauricus, up until Caesar's death, was a loyal puppet. |
| 193 | * MissionCreep: Modern historical takes on the Republic (namely Coleen [=McCullough=]'s works) usually invoke this as the true cause for the downfall of the Republic and the dawn of the Empire, rather than the more older (and still commonly found) theories (i.e. decline in political virtue, rise of ambitious men, and flouting of norms) that are more symptoms than causes: |
| 194 | ** Rome's Republican institutions and civic culture was simply not up to the mark in governing a large swathe of land, and the sudden transformation of Rome, from regional power to Mediterranean superpower in the UsefulNotes/PunicWars, created a series of problems that Rome's political elite and institutions were unprepared, unwilling, and incapable of dealing with. For example, the wars led to a huge number of land, and a great number of slaves to enter into the property of a few wealthy patricians who bought up land that was intended to be sorted to and tended by Roman freedmen. The debate on how to deal with this land, and the failure to resolve it led to the Gracchian crisis which led to a polarization in Rome's patrician elite. |
| 195 | ** The failure to effectively reward and honour Rome's fighting men, meant that many of them were dependent on generals to pay for them and look after their interests. The senate's refusal to heed their complaints led to greater weight to fall on the office of the tribunes creating a major crisis. This problem began in the Punic Wars itself, where Scipio Africanus had to go under the Senate to pay some of his men, and built a large clientele of soldiers who were dependent on him rather than the Roman patrician class. This fear of the power of the generals led the Senate to jealously guard important commands in Rome's various theaters, since each command, and potential victory, meant a rise in favour and glory of the generals. The failure to extend Roman citizenship to other Italic cities as suggested by the Gracchi and even some optimates led to the Socii Wars, and the Socii Wars in turn led to the Marius and Sulla wars, where two generals out of personal grudges and bitterness resented the fact that either one of them, and their respective faction, would get the prestigious command against King Mithradates. |
| 196 | * MommasBoy: Motherhood was a big part of Roman culture and many famous mothers of Romans were celebrated for their loving and nurturing nature, and many stories of mothers defending and protecting their children. It was considered right for Roman men to love and honor their mothers. Later authors, have noted startling similarities between this and the Virgin Mary motif in Christianity, seeing the latter as a HijackedByJesus take on this pre-existing mentality. Other historians note that the drastic contrast between the Republican cult of motherhood with that of the Empire (where Livia and Aggrippina are described as VicariouslyAmbitious evil matriarchs): |
| 197 | ** Shakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Coriolanus}}'' actually depicts this quite accurately. Volumnia encourages Coriolanus' ambitions and is prized and celebrated for her virtue even as her son becomes a renegade. In the end, Volumnia tells her son to stand down and give up his rebellion against the Republic, which he obeys and the mother is celebrated as a hero of the city and an embodiment of its virtues. Volumnia wasn't there in Plutarch's account of Coriolanus (which is what Shakespeare used as a source) but the way he framed her is quite similar to other narratives in Plutarch and other Latin works available in Elizabethan chapbooks that [[CompositeCharacter might have inspired her characterization]]. |
| 198 | ** Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, was a famous and celebrated socialite in her era, and so popular in her own right, that a Ptolemaic King proposed to her, which she refused. She had a loving marriage with Tiberius Gracchus the Elder and gave birth to 12 children (which was such a huge deal that her own son Gaius, as per Plutarch, proudly boasted it as her accomplishment, which is fitting since childbirth was the number one killer of most women in the ancient world). Her children invoked Cornelia's chastity and virtue when appealing to people. When she died, long after her famous sons were killed, a statue was erected in her honour. Cicero's letters discuss her long afterwards which mentions her surviving letters that were apparently published and studied for its rhetorical qualities. The only things that survive is a disputed fragment by Cornelius Nepos' Latin biographers which is not seen as entirely authentic but it's indicative of how popular she was. |
| 199 | ** Roman authors also saw Aurelia Cotta as TheMentor to her son UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, since his father was mostly absent in his childhood, and the former spiritedly defended her headstrong son from the proscriptions of Sulla Felix. |
| 200 | * OffingTheOffspring: |
| 201 | ** Part of the founding myth of Rome and a subject of one of Creator/JacquesLouisDavid's paintings. Lucius Brutus the man who overthrew Tarquin and helped found the Republic ordered the deaths of his own sons when it was revealed that they joined the royalist faction to bring the Tarquins back. To the Romans, this was a glorious action to celebrate how civic virtue and patriotism triumphed family bonds. More modern writers and historians, might see it, and the Romans uncritical adulation of the same, as an example of [[KnightTemplar ideological fanaticism]]. |
| 202 | ** Another darker story in Livy is that of Verginia. 10 years after the founding of the Republic, the plebes demanded a written constitution (known as the Tables of Rome) that was supposed to be framed by the Decemvirs. Verginia was the daughter of a plebe and engaged to an ex-Tribune, but a corrupt oligarch lusted after her and wanted her as his concubine (more or less a proto-DroitDuSeigneur with Patrician-Plebeian). After trying and failing to appeal to the law and the court to save her, her father finally killed her to spare her the fate of being raped and this triggers a mass uprising. Livy notes that the story is similar to Rape of Lucrece. |
| 203 | * OneSteveLimit: HistoricalFiction and actual historical accounts can be baffling because of how often names like Gaius, Marcus, Lucius, Quintus, Quintillus, and others keep repeating again and again. Since family honor and reputation was all, names and family names were SeriousBusiness so people kept using certain well known names. |
| 204 | ** Historians use conventions such as Cato the Elder and Cato the Younger, Tiberius Gracchus the Elder, and Younger to differentiate between names while also using AnachronismStew. For instance, in his early career, Octavian after being nominated Caesar's heir, called himself Gaius Julius Caesar as per the adoption conventions and it was as Caesar that he was declared Princeps and recieved Augustus, and was referred as such by Mark Antony. This is too much even for the likes of academic historians like Sir Ronald Syme, let alone most period films that call him Octavian and/or Augustus. |
| 205 | ** The Romans themselves helped us by giving titles and nicknames to each other. Cato the Elder was called Cato Censorius or Cato Sapiens, Marcus Tullius was given the nickname Cicero (which means bean). Lucius Cornelius Sulla earned the name Felix referring either to his fortune. Likewise Publius Claudius Pulcher helpfully renamed himself Publius [[XtremeKoolLetterz Clodius]] Pulcher to sound more plebian.[[note]]Clodius actually had himself adopted by a plebian, with very questionable legality (since his adopter was younger than him and likely too young to legally adopt), so that he could become Tribune of the Plebes despite being of patrician birth. The fact that he merely plebianized his existing name rather than taking his adopter's name as was to be expected further illustrates how fake the adoption was.[[/note]] |
| 206 | * RaisedByWolves: The Founders of Rome were FeralChild mothered by a wolf. |
| 207 | * StartMyOwn: Groups which rebelled against the Republic often sought to establish counter-institutions that still based itself on the Republican organization and symbols: |
| 208 | ** During the Socii War, the various Italian tribes (of whom the Samnites, Rome's old enemy was the chief) called themselves Italia (the earliest instance of UsefulNotes/{{Italy}} as a political entity and state) and established a capital called Italica. They printed their own coinage, which shows a Bull (a Southern Italian heraldic symbol)[[note]]indeed, the name Italy itself is hypothesized to have originated from the ancient word ''viteliu'' meaning "land of calves"[[/note]] goring a wolf (guess who?). Their coinage, and their institutions were based on Rome as was some of their army. They knew Rome quite well having been allies during the UsefulNotes/PunicWars but feeling stiffed at Roman corruption. |
| 209 | ** Quintus Sertorius, a Marian General had earned his spurs as a cunning infiltrator who could blend in the Gallic and Germanic tribes and also learnt their languages. Later he served alongside Marius and Cinna after they took over the city after Sulla's First March on Rome. When Sulla returned, angry and bloodier than ever, Sertorius fled back to Gaul and later Hispania where he managed to be the biggest and longest-lasting holdout against the Republic, forming a rival state in Hispania formed by him, other generals, local tribes that included among other things its own public school and other infrastructures. He was called "the Roman Hannibal". He was more or less making his own Roman Republic in the wild, complete with its own slave revolts and brutal suppression of the same. Sertorius repelled all of Sulla's generals and even Pompey, finally being assassinated by his own associates at a banquet, which Pompey "claimed" as his victory. |
| 210 | ---- |
| 211 | |
| 212 | !!Works produced during this time period: |
| 213 | |
| 214 | [[folder:Arts]] |
| 215 | * ''Art/AphroditeOfMenophantos'': A Roman copy of the Greek {{sculpture|s}} "Capitoline Venus". It depicts a self-conscious, modest LoveGoddess Venus. |
| 216 | [[/folder]] |
| 217 | ---- |
| 218 | |
| 219 | !! Works about or including the Roman Republic include: |
| 220 | |
| 221 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 222 | [[folder: Comics Books]] |
| 223 | * ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': Takes place during UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar's era. Doesn't prevent the comics from having an {{anachronis|m stew}}tic Imperial-looking city of Rome, with the Colosseum most notoriously. |
| 224 | * ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'': In ''De Nerveuze Nerviërs'' the cast travels to Belgium around the time Caesar conquered the regions. They battle alongside the Belgian tribe the Nerva against Roman troops. In ''Hannibal'' the cast travels to the time when Hannibal Barca crossed the Alps. |
| 225 | [[/folder]] |
| 226 | |
| 227 | [[folder: Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 228 | * ''Film/BrennusEnemyOfRome'' |
| 229 | * ''Film/{{Cabiria}}'' |
| 230 | * ''Film/CaesarAndCleopatra'' |
| 231 | * ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' |
| 232 | * ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' is firmly set during the Roman Empire era, but has some senators who wish Rome could return to a Republic state. |
| 233 | * ''Film/JuliusCaesar1953'' |
| 234 | * ''Film/JuliusCaesar1970'' |
| 235 | * ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' |
| 236 | [[/folder]] |
| 237 | |
| 238 | [[folder: Live-Action TV]] |
| 239 | * ''Series/{{Rome}}'' |
| 240 | * ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand'' |
| 241 | [[/folder]] |
| 242 | |
| 243 | [[folder: Literature]] |
| 244 | * ''Lays of Ancient Rome'' by Sir Thomas Macaulay: A collection of poems about TheRepublic. They are imagined to be what early Roman literature would have sounded like if much of it hadn't been lost (and it had been written in 19th century English, rather than Latin.) |
| 245 | * In ''Literature/OverTheWineDarkSea'' there are a few references to Rome, as well as a sea-fight with a Roman trireme. But it is otherwise agreed that it was one of those Barbarian cities [[HistoricalInJoke "that would never amount to anything."]]. |
| 246 | * ''Scipio Africanus: The Man Who Defeated Hannibal'' by Ross Leckie: A fictional autobiography of Scipio, the general who commanded in the Second UsefulNotes/{{Punic War|s}} and was possibly Rome's greatest general ever. |
| 247 | * Steven Saylor's ''Literature/RomaSubRosa'' series. |
| 248 | * As if the '''real''' Roman Republic wasn't badass enough, John Maddox Roberts' AlternateHistory ''Hannibal's Children'' has them [[TookALevelInBadass take a level or three]] in reaction to being exiled north of the Alps. When they '''come back''' one hundred years later, a Greek thinks that the sound of Roman laughter reminds him of swords clashing against shields. They don't swagger or bully; they're too badass for that. In one battle, an "inexperienced" Roman army under a "second-rate" general faces a veteran mercenary force twice their size and led by Carthage's best general. The Romans are wiped out -- but the Carthaginian army is '''wrecked''', [[PyrrhicVictory with two-thirds of its troops killed outright, and most of the rest badly battered]]. |
| 249 | * Colleen [=McCullough's=] ''Literature/MastersOfRome'' series, chronicles the era from Marius and Sulla's friendship to the Battle of Actium. Notably for taking a pro-populares view, and taking much inspiration from Sir Ronald Syme's ''The Roman Revolution''. |
| 250 | * Creator/DavidDrake's ''Literature/RanksOfBronze'' has intergalactic traders buying a legion of Roman soldiers (the survivors of Carrhae) and using them as muscle against primitive civilisations. |
| 251 | * Plutarch's ''Literature/ParallelLives'' is one of the most famous and influential secondary sources for the Republican Era. It's biographical essays on figures like Cato the Elder, the Gracchi, Cato the Younger, Sulla, Pompey, Crassus, Brutus, Cicero, Caesar, Mark Antony has greatly defined the PopCulturalOsmosis of AncientGrome. |
| 252 | * Lucan's ''Literature/{{Pharsalia}}'', an epic poem telling the Roman Civil Wars. The poem's author was a critic of Nero and finally fell victim to one of the Emperor's purges. As such the work, attacks Nero indirectly by attacking his ancestor, Julius Caesar and glorifying Cato and Pompey at the titular Battle of Pharsalia. The famous phrase, "the losing cause pleased Cato" gave the name to the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy" and is emblazoned on the memorial of the Confederate Cemetery at Arlington. |
| 253 | * Robert Harris' ''Literature/{{Imperium}}'' trilogy, chronicling the life of the famous Roman statesman Creator/MarcusTulliusCicero. |
| 254 | [[/folder]] |
| 255 | |
| 256 | [[folder: Tabletop Games]] |
| 257 | * ''TabletopGame/TheRepublicOfRome'' is a board game designed for people who consider ''TabletopGame/{{Diplomacy}}'' to be too tame. In it, players assume control of senatorial factions jockeying for influence and prestige in the Senate and, on occasion, raising a legion or ten to fight the enemies of the Republic. |
| 258 | * One of five campaign settings released for ''TabletopGame/{{SHASN}}'' is "Fall of the Republic: Rome 40 BCE". As the title implies, it focuses on the political turmoil and issues that plagued the Roman Republic around 40 BCE, i.e. after Caesar's assassination but before the Second Triumvirate fell apart. |
| 259 | [[/folder]] |
| 260 | |
| 261 | [[folder: Podcasts]] |
| 262 | * Dan Carlin's ''Podcast/HardcoreHistory'' has had many episodes covering popular topics from the Republic; such as the UsefulNotes/PunicWars, it's gradual collapse into [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire the Empire]], and Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. |
| 263 | * Creator/MikeDuncan's ''Podcast/TheHistoryOfRome'' details the history of Rome from the legendary founding by Romulus to the deposition of Romulus Augustulus by Odoacer in 476. Naturally, Duncan details the history of the Republic--and by his own admission, his favorite part of Roman history is the mid-to-late Republican era, particularly the period before the end of the Punic Wars. |
| 264 | [[/folder]] |
| 265 | |
| 266 | [[folder: Theatre]] |
| 267 | * A few plays of Creator/WilliamShakespeare: |
| 268 | ** ''Theatre/AntonyAndCleopatra'' |
| 269 | ** ''Theatre/{{Coriolanus}}'' |
| 270 | ** ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'' |
| 271 | [[/folder]] |
| 272 | |
| 273 | [[folder: Video Games]] |
| 274 | * ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar'' |
| 275 | * The RTS game ''Praetorians'' is set at the very end of the Republic, with a campaign that follows the career of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar. |
| 276 | * ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis: Rome'', a spinoff of Creator/ParadoxInteractive's flagship series. |
| 277 | ** ''VideoGame/ImperatorRome'', a SpiritualSuccessor |
| 278 | * ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'' despite being set in AncientEgypt during the Ptolemaic era has a substantial focus on the Roman Republic specifically the reign of Julius Caesar. |
| 279 | * ''VideoGame/CenturionDefenderOfRome'' |
| 280 | * ''VideoGame/{{Caesar}}'' series of city-building simulators |
| 281 | * ''Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar'', the second game of the VideoGame/HegemonySeries |
| 282 | ** ''Hegemony III: Clash of the Ancients'' and its DLC, ''The Eagle King'', featuring Pyrrhus, the “eagle” of Epirus. |
| 283 | * ''VideoGame/{{Imperivm}}'' series |
| 284 | [[/folder]] |
| 285 | |
| 286 | [[folder: Web Animation]] |
| 287 | * ''WebAnimation/ExtraCredits'' tackles the Republican Era in Extra History. |
| 288 | ** ''The Second Punic War'' is covered in its entirety from Hannibal's march through the Alps, his early victories, Fabian Cunctator's tactics, and Scipio's final victories. |
| 289 | ** ''The Brothers Gracchi'' is the 2016 series that tackles Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus' attempts to bring important reforms in the Republic only to be met by opposition that ultimately tore the fabric of the Republic. |
| 290 | [[/folder]] |
| 291 | |
| 292 | [[folder:Web Video]] |
| 293 | * The French {{edutainment|Show}} ConfessionCam parody web-series ''WebVideo/ConfessionsDHistoire'' has an episode about the Gallic Wars and another about the end of Ptolemaic Egypt leading to the rise of Augustus. |
| 294 | [[/folder]] |
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